


Mary the Virgin

by Julyza



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety Disorder, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Bruce Wayne is pansexual in this fic, Cliche, Dramedy, F/M, Gen, Jane the Virgin au, Mexican Character, Parenthood, Queer Character, Reality Bending, Slow Burn, Superpowers, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2020-11-28 19:04:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20971520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Julyza/pseuds/Julyza
Summary: A story in which Mary Garza, Dick's metahuman highschool teacher, finds herself pregnant with none other than Bruce Wayne's baby despite the fact that she has never had sex. A not so light dramatic comedy heavily inspired by Jane the Virgin.





	1. Chapter 1

"If you lose your virginity with someone who is not your husband you will go to hell".

Maria Guadalupe Garza had been thirteen when her mother, Maria Guadalupe Espinoza de Garza, taught her two things: how to handle her period and why she should save herself until marriage.

That was why she was still a virgin at 25, with only a job as a teacher in Gotham Academy and living in an apartment the size of a shoebox.

Not really, but that was what her mother believes keeps her daughter's legs closed, and Mary has stopped trying to explain herself.

The matter has more to do with her superpowers. Ones inherited from her super powered relatives on her dad's side. Oh yeah, she has a psychiatrist aunt with slight mind control powers, a surprisingly normal hitman cousin with super hearing, a teenage brother with a healing factor, and a dad who might be Vandal Savage's bastard child. How her Abuelita managed to get it on with an immortal supervillain, is irrelevant.

Mary herself happens to be an okay telepath who can alter reality. These don't come free, unfortunately for her and the Justice League who pretend they weren't told to fuck off by her relatives.

Superman has kryptonite -don't ask how she knows this- and she has a fluctuating telepathic ability that gave her anxiety and the mother of all superpowers -reality warping- that can leave her in the hospital for a few days.

"I'm so sorry to bother you, but I got an extra juice from the vending machine and I was hoping you might want it?" The doctor seems nice, hiding something, but then again, she is a superpowered train wreck, so who is she to judge. Mary doesn't want to get on her bad side if she ends up being a killer.

"Thank you, and here I was just about to ask if I could use the vending machine." Mary smiles sweetly making the doctor feel guilty about giving her the orange juice. Did it fall in the trash or something? Is it poisoned?

Making sure it wasn't poisoned before her initial dizziness turns to puking her brains out on the nice carpet, Mary drank the juice and continues to mentally plan an escape route in case some villain decides to make Planned Parenthood their target in the next twenty minutes. Since when did a job as a substitute teacher require a physical, a background check and a psych evaluation?

#OnlyInGotham

It has been like fifteen minutes and she is starting to feel sleepy, and not in the I-used-my-powers-and-I-will-pass-out way. Fucking doctors were just taking so long. She is also having trouble keeping track of people inside, but then again, her telepathic abilities can be shitty sometimes.

Mary had taken for granted the inexpensive choices offered by neighboring Mexico. Cursed with shitty weather and an ungodly number of costumed freaks running around killing people, she asked herself why in hell she transferred to Gotham Law. On paper and with a negative sign on her bank account, Gotham City's desperation to attract potential new residents was just what she needed. In person and with a heart-stopping insurance bill, she should've just stayed in Texas.

By the time the nice doctor she met earlier came in, Mary was already snoring.

* * *

It was not the first time she did something illegal, but then again Joanna Smith was not her actual name.

Her escape from Vlatava had not been free, neither had been getting her wife out of there a year later. Too bad Lex Luthor was the one who got her out of there.

He said they would leave her alone after she successfully cloned the Kryptonian, but that was not the case when her handler gave her another job.

Inseminating that woman lying on the bed with Bruce Wayne's sperm.

Easy money; Maria Garza would only be mildly confused and forget about it until the pregnancy test came back positive. Besides the mom-to-be could use the money, not everyone is lucky enough to have a millionaire baby-daddy.


	2. Chapter 2

_October, two months later_

It's probably the anemia, she thinks, maybe she accidently used her powers again and didn't notice. Telepathy could easily be controlled by her pills and her omni kinesis would kill her one of these days. She always missed one period when she used it, but now she has missed two and that was enough to make her think something was wrong. There was also her family history with cancer and tumors, and this is the part where she must deal her intrusive thoughts by focusing on some random lady's bad makeup.

To add salt to the wound, her shitty telepathic abilities had decided to give her a ten-second glimpse into Batman's mind when he got frisky with the cat themed kleptomaniac on the rooftop. She still shudders when her mind drifted to last night's bout of insomnia.

That was when she decided to see a Doctor. An actual Doctor and not the Venezuelan doctor illegally practicing medicine two floors down. Here's to hoping Gotham Academy's health insurance didn't prove to be shit.

Too bad her car had not survived a recent super villain attack where someone decided to drop an airborne lamppost on it. Insurance in Gotham City was a nightmare and it would take weeks to get the check to replace it. Which brought us here; the metro bus where Mary and her sister ,Maggie, took turns sitting on the only available seat.

Ah, Magdalena Garza, or Maggie for short. Maggie was Mary's second youngest sibling. She was the overachiever who wanted to be a general surgeon and unbeknownst to her family, had lost her virginity to the guy she has been seeing for the past two months. A guy who went to 'buy superpowers' and hasn't called since then.

"I don't see why you had to come with me." Mary suppressed another bout of nausea. "I can take care of myself."

"Gotham makes Mexico look tame, you could pass out and someone might try to kill you before you hit the ground." Maggie highlighted something in her notes as the appointment is before her class in the afternoon.

"I don't faint, Maggie." She does, and nine times out of ten it's in public.

"Dude, you pass out whenever a Doctor says he got to give you a shot." Maggie snickered and flipped the page. She really doesn't because the truth is, Mary can warp reality, but that's not something you can say on public transport.

"That only happened once and it-" Mary never finished that sentence, for the same reason all women in fictional worlds including this one does when pregnant. She fainted.

* * *

"Mystery solved; nausea, no period and fainting," The nurse said looking over the results of her urine sample. "You're pregnant, congratulations."

This news was often met with joy and the occasional crying, not raucous laughter and a 'dude, you're funny'.

"There is -has to be- a mistake, I've never had sex," Mary said after laughing for a good minute or so.

There had to be a mistake. Her career did not give her time to get it on with the guys she dated. Besides, even just making out with someone had the tendency to make any hard-fought control over her abilities vanish. Last time she made out with someone she found out he was cheating on her with her cousin. This lead with her using her other power to light his truck on fire and his insurance not covering shit.

"Miss Garza you are a grown woman, you don't have to lie about it," the Nurse said as politely as he could. The nurse looked like all nurses did; partially tired of dealing with your bullshit and calm enough to explain things to you gently.

He was also running on three hours of sleep, two large coffees, and a bland salad with a moldy strawberry.

"I am not lying!"

_three tests later_

"Why are all these tests coming back positive?" Mari ran a hand through her hair. The closest she has been alone with a man was during an awkward date with a day laborer she met in Lowes.

"I had sex and I hated it!" Maggie blurts out after holding that secret for a week. A new record considering the longest she had gone had been eight hours.

"Why are you telling me this now? You couldn't tell me, I don't know, at home?" Mary yelled loud enough for Clark Kent to nearly hit a bird on his way back to Metropolis. 'Better yet, never.' Mary would like to say.

"What if you are carrying a religious messiah or you're like a reincarnation of Virgin Mary or some shit like that?" Maggie answers in kind, her hands gesturing wildly at her. "I can't lie to a Saint!"

Taking her phone out of her purse she dialed the clinic. "God, I'm never accepting a free drink ever again."

* * *

Bruce Wayne had prided himself in always having a plan, in being prepared for just about everything. Before Dick had come into his life, he had frozen a sperm sample in case he wanted a biological child in the future. And now it had come to bite him in the ass.

Just as he decided Dick will be his only child, some third-rate criminal had stolen his sample and those belonging to the wealthy men of Gotham. This had driven him incredibly close to having a drink.

It had been a very slim chance of it happening, and to his horror, it did. That resulted in a glass of whiskey after the dreaded phone call.

Lucky for him, she could terminate her unwanted pregnancy. The last thing he wanted was younger version of himself with superpowers and Dick's expert guidance in making Bruce question his parenting abilities daily.

Batman already knew every piece of information Maria G. Garza, but Bruce Wayne only had access to the class syllabus given to Dick and her Facebook profile. Too bad he was 'away on a business meeting' and would back next week.

For the time being, he would start making plans if fate decided to make him a father of two.


	3. Chapter 3

Katya Smirnoff exhaled in relief as her girlfriend, Lyudmila, destroyed the last remaining bits of Dr. Johanna and Nurse Helen. The former Scientist and her wife left Gotham City under the guise of their supposed destination wedding. According to the evidence, they will never get there.

"Where are we going this time?" Lyudmila asked poring herself a drink.

"California, like we always said in Vlatava."

Johanna Smith, a blonde woman with blue eyes and Helen Culpepper, a redhead with brown eyes, had died in a car accident when they decided to get married in Niagara Falls.

The black-haired Dr. Kelly Hart was married to a blonde Elise Lovett, whom she met volunteering in a third world country, according to the identities Amanda Waller had given them as payment.

* * *

The call to her mother had been exactly how she expected. Maria Guadalupe Espinoza de Garza was a 51-year-old Mexican Religious mother of five (Miranda, Mary, Ricardo, Magdalena and Ivan), it was a miracle that she even believed that it was a medical mistake and not God. She did, but she just did not tell her agnostic daughter.

"You should keep the baby and sue that good for nothing Doctor", her mother dictated in perfect Mexican Spanish, "Bruce is very handsome, chances are he will fall in love with you and you will get a happy ever after worthy of a telenovela," her mother assured.

Perhaps Mary should tell her mother about that incident just before school started. The one where he confused her with her stripper cousin, Mariel. Maybe some other day, when any gossip involving her cousin and Mary's ex-fiancé comes up.

"Ma, we barely know each other. I'm pretty sure he has a girlfriend." Mary rolled her eyes as she opened her fourth yogurt.

Bruce Wayne -despite his Playboy status and rumored relationship with America's most famous cat lady, Selina Kyle- was the ultimate catch. After years of trying to prove to their family Mary was not lesbian (or dying alone); Lupita had been on the lookout for a second son in law. Bruce Wayne fit all her high standards: tall, handsome, enough money to support a family and, best of all, spoke Spanish.

"You told me he kissed you after that date you had in the summer."

Yes, because two drinks and making out in his car was a sure sign of having feelings for a guy you've seen a total of three times. Not that she wants to tell her mother that.

"Mom, he slept with Mariel and then confused me with her; and that's not even talking about all the stuff we heard about him on TV." There goes that some-other-time bullshit.

"Oh, don't be so picky, men fix themselves up once they have children", her mother argued," Just look at your father, he was a smuggler, had a braid that reached his butt, did almost every single drug there was and there was a rumor that he had a daughter somewhere. Look at him now a hardworking, honest man with five legitimate and amazing children and two grandchildren."

By honest she means her husband is discreet with his long-time affair with their slutty neighbor living two streets away.

Mary rolled her eyes. Her mom gave her the same lecture she gave her a year ago when her fiancé cheated on her with, you guessed it, Mariel.

Thankfully, the doorbell rang, and Mary could end their phone call without pissing off her mother. "I'll call you later, someone is at the door."

"I forgot my keys again, was that mom?" Maggie waltzed into their apartment letting her older sister lock the door again -all three locks and the chair jammed under the doorknob for good measure.

"Yeah, your keys are at the key thingy right there. I just hung up, if you want to call her please don't bring me up in conversation." Mary plopped back into the couch and tried to remember what the hell she had been doing before her mother called.

"She gave you the Lecture again?" Maggie dumped her bookbag on the table they got at a yard sale, took off her cowboy boots and settled next to her sister.

"Yup, she just changed the 'he will change when he gets married' to 'he will change once he has children'. I think she forgot it didn't work when I cancelled the wedding."

"So, does Bruce Wayne know he might have a kid in the next four to six months?"

Knowing her sister, Mary has not done so. She isn't surprised to find her looking at her Facebook feed instead of making eye contact with her.

"Seriously, Mary?"

"OMG! Dude, she has no idea it's a knock off!" Mary hasn't felt this happy since that morning when their neighbor, Catherine Todd nee Leyva, gave her some Tostones.

"Wait, what?"

"When I called off the wedding instead of throwing it in the river or whatever, I sold my engagement ring and kept the money. I wasn't going to say anything until I went to Walmart the next day and saw a knock off on sale. Kike thinks it's the same one and now that puta has a Walmart ring on her finger."

"Mary, focus. Have you told him you are pregnant?" Maggie grabbed her elder sister's face with both of her hands forcing her to look her in the eye.

"I still haven't met with him to tell him that some crazy Doctor knocked me up with his stolen jizz, if that's what you mean. He is on a business trip and I must wait till Monday, according to his snobby secretary."

That's two days to find a way to tell him without offending him or coming off as a gold-digging opportunist.


	4. Chapter 4

"Nayeli from HR found out what the previous teacher got fired for." Paola, one of her favorite coworkers and one of her new friends, practically sings with such a juicy piece of gossip. Paola not only happens to be in the teacher next door, they also carpool to Gotham Law after and share a printer they had to buy themselves.

"What did that bitch do?" Mary shovels food into her mouth pretending she didn't eavesdrop on her earlier. No one is safe from her mind reading when she doesn't take her meds. Her prescription had changed, and it has the unfortunate side effect of leaving her deaf in the telepathic sort of way and that just made her even more skittish in strange places.

"Turns out she slept with Bruce Wayne, recorded it and then tried to blackmail half a million off of him."

That was a hell of a way to remind her she is supposed to be meeting him in an hour and probably the thing that will make her have an anxiety attack at this nice buffet.

She might end up having a baby with an irresponsible dumbass playboy half of the heterosexual female population has slept with. Never mind that Grayson is almost always injured with some bullshit excuse as to how he ended up hurt. A baby wouldn't survive in that environment, especially one with superpowers.

She's going to have to tell him she has powers. Wait, her dad is a twin, what if she has twins?

Mary had gotten the first of her check ups the day after finding out she was pregnant and there was no second baby, but what if they had missed it?

Her cousin's twins weren't detected in the womb and she found out when she gave birth to a second baby. What if she has two superpowered babies, or what if only one of them has them and it gives the normal one some sort of inferiority complex?

What if they inherit her mental illness?

How was she going to handle two kids with her problems in such a shithole?

It takes only one question to send her spiraling and putting herself back to together isn't as easy as it sounds.

Mary can feel perspiration form on her forehead and her nose, and even focusing on the daytime tv playing on the wall behind Paola doesn't help distract her.

What if the revolving door of _putas_ he sleeps with outs them as supers and the government takes her baby or worse, _he_ outs them like the _pendejo _he is?

"What's the matter, Mary?" her friend asks softly.

Paola knows about her anxiety, and you don't need a degree in psychology to know when something is wrong. Trembling hands and sweating were never easy to hide, but then again some of her more minor anxiety attacks are far more subtle like snapping for no reason or feeling like her body is made of lead and she is coming down with a nasty flu.

"I'm pregnant." She feels a bit better having said it, but not enough for her to stop spiraling. How can she when she will most likely end up sharing a child with someone she sees as an unfit parent?

"Congrats, girl! Who's the daddy?"

"Bruce Wayne."

"Hallelujah! You finally had sex!" Paola squeals making Mary feel bad because she now faces telling her the truth or hope she doesn't ask for details if she decides to lie about it.

Before Paola begs for an incredibly amount of detail about Bruce Wayne's sexual prowess, Mary confesses her plight. "I wish, but my life had to be so fucking weird and now I'm a pregnant virgin named Maria Guadalupe."

"How the fuck did that happen? Is it even possible? Never mind, I remember seeing something like that on a couple of months ago." It takes Paola less than a minute to remember that incident a few months back, three months ago to be precise.

"Oh. That's fucked up." Her friend pats her hand sympathetically understanding that there really was no logic to all the shit that went down in her city. Gotham City was, well, Gotham City, but what would someone gain by doing something like this?

Mary would like to answer her unspoken question with an I don't know, but she doubts she will ever tell Paola she is a telepath from a family that has a four to one ratio of super powered people. That's not something you can tell people you barely know, heck even Enrique who she dated on and off since high school had no idea that she was superpowered.

"How far along are you?" Paola's questions take a back seat and the joy of finding out your friend is having a baby is contagious enough that Mary hangs on to it hoping it makes her inner turmoil go away.

"Doctor said I was around two months, and everything seems fine, thank God."

With that the two friends chatted as if there was nothing out of the ordinary.

* * *

Lucky for her, Paola wanted the whole story and drove her to Wayne Enterprises. She even bought Mary a bag of Hot Cheetos when they stopped for gas.

Mary might not want a baby, but she doesn't mind having an excuse for eating more.

"Mr. Wayne, there is a Miss. Garza here to see you," his secretary spoke, traces of irritation and misdirected anger in her voice. The man should really stop with his love 'em and leave 'em thing.

"Send her in." Bruce replied. Clark had been over the moon when Lois told him she was pregnant. Bruce could not say he was over the moon when he found out that someone had been impregnated against her will with stolen sperm, but if she decided to have it then he will come around eventually. What other choice did he have?

She was nervous, he could tell as she played with the clasps of her bag. He can guess she read his mind as well.

"I know I said Dick had been having problems in class, but that's not why I came here," she said quietly as soon as his secretary had left.

"I'm the father," Batman, sorry Bruce, answered, "I'm the father of the baby you're having."

Her eyes went wide, there was (probably) other ways to go about it and that was the one she was least prepared for. She sat down on the ridiculously expensive chair and reminded herself why she came here.

"I was at the Scholarship Banquet in Houston, that's where we met," Mary speaks softly after she has gathered most of her thoughts and managed to hear his while she pretends that she isn't doing so. "You don't have to pretend you remember; you wouldn't have confused me with my cousin in the first place if you did."

He remembers and she does not need her sixth sense to know that. Not that she has much control over it now. In the millisecond she caught him off guard, she realizes he was dating Wonder Woman at the time and Mary was just a cover.

Now she doesn't feel too bad for manipulating him into getting her off the waitlist.

"No, I do remember, you got a phone call saying you had been waitlisted and you took it out on a vase." Bruce Wayne smiled, it didn't quite reach his eyes and Mary now wants to know why she didn't notice that last time.

"and you paid for the damages on the condition that I be your date for a museum exhibit you were invited to." Mary relaxes now that the conversation changed to something less life changing.

"And if you agreed to have a drink or two after."

Bruce drank a fucking mocktail while she downed half a bottle of Don Julio and then after talking, they ended making out in his car. She can't remember things clearly, hell she can't remember what they even talked about or where they had gone to, and Mary hopes he won't bring up the conversation.

Mary focuses on his thoughts, like focusing on the voice of someone speaking to you in a crowded room.

He pretended that he didn't know who she was when he saw her at that PTA meeting. The one before school started.

That fucker.

This asshole knew she wasn't Mariel, a simple 'no, I'm not interested' would've been nicer. That's what she gets for getting all her hopes up when a good-looking man pays her any amount of attention.

And Mary felt guilty for using him to get off the waitlist and for slapping him at a PTA meeting like a month ago. Mary reminds herself that she should also apologize to him. She doesn't know if her health insurance will cover her medical expenses and it would help be on good terms with him, she may end up sharing a child with him after all.

" I'm really sorry about that day, being confused with my stripper cousin pisses me off," Mary sincerely apologizes, now that she isn't as nervous as she was minutes ago and can perceive the slight guilt, the one he still feels for pretending he didn't remember.

At least he feels guilty, she tells herself.

She could ask him why he had to confuse her with Mariel but decides against it. Maybe when the I-have-superpowers-and-anxiety talk happens. Which is in less than seven months or never -depending on what Mary decides.

"If I'm being honest with you, I don't think I'm ready to be a mom." Mary breathes out, as if a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders.

"Then I'll take it," he said it so frankly it makes her want to cry, everything makes her want to cry nowadays.

It is important to point out that she knows that he did not really want to raise it either, but he was willing to adopt the child if an abortion could serve as a trigger for another nervous breakdown.

Mary just doesn't know that he knows that she knows and that her mind reading feels like a thief leaving with a 70-inch plasma television and hoping the owners don't realize it's gone.

Who the fuck told him she was mentally ill? It doesn't cross her mind that he had her investigated, because she hasn't been thinking very clearly since lunchtime and just missed his comparison of her mind reading.

"Then what? Leave my kid at the mercy of the revolving door of_ putas_ you entertain and in a place like this!"

That was harsh, but she hasn't been known for keeping cool under pressure or keeping her foot out of her mouth. Besides, if she does decide to have the baby, he'll have to get used to her honesty, a side effect that comes with having to lie in order to keep herself safe.

"I know you are a good dad to Grayson, but I know you don't want a baby either. If I am being honest, even if I would give you the baby, I wouldn't trust you to keep a goldfish alive let alone raise a child, especially knowing the type of injuries your son has shown up to school with."

He remains calm, cool and collected- unlike her- and in flawless handwriting, Bruce writes down the phone numbers to Wayne Manor, his personal cell phone, and even the extension to his office. Maybe their kid would take after him in that area. His mind is shielded against her, and she isn't in the mood to stick around and find out why.

Maybe I do want this baby, she admits to herself.

"I understand". He hands over the paper, his eyes not moving from hers. His blue eyes don't hide his anger and she can tell he feels embarrassed for her pointing out his shortcomings as a father.

Too bad she doesn't feel guilty.


	5. Chapter 5

PTA meeting, a month before chapter 1

“Fancy running into you.”

Mary felt her heart soar with those words. Tall, dark hair and pretty eyes, three traits found in just about every man she fell for. Well, tall and dark hair were optional, but Mary could never resist pretty eyes she could get lost in.

Her ex-fiancé had the most beautiful honey brown eyes with light brown wispy lashes and tiny golden flecks that sparkled in the sunlight. If she hadn’t been a telepath, she might have never doubted his supposed fidelity and found out he had been cheating on her with her cousin.

Bruce Wayne's eyes are bottomless wells of a flawless blue framed with thick jet-black eyelashes. The expression in them never matches the one on his face, which is just as concerning as it is intriguing.

His smile, as fake as it is, still manages to disarm her and make her forget that you can't get a refund on a wedding dress or that she vowed to focus on finishing law school when she finally got accepted at Gotham Law.

Mary opens her mouth to speak---despite not being able to think up some witty response--- and almost sighs in relief when his adoptive son, Richard Grayson, interrupts.

“Hey, Barbara, we’re in the same class!” Richard yells enthusiastically to the red-haired girl barely entering the school gymnasium with her dad, Commissioner Gordon. 

Mary sifts through the class roster and putting a check mark after Gordon, Barbara Eileen.

That was two check marks on her list of twenty students. It was still very early, at most, there was like three other parents here and it’s not like _her_ parents ever went to these things.

“Don’t ruin this for me,” Grayson whispers to Bruce as he runs off after Barbara.

“Had no idea you were a teacher,” he says casually, but strategically leaves out her name.

Mary doesn’t need to read his mind to know he doesn’t remember who the fuck she is.

“I wasn’t a teacher then.” Mary replies in equal parts politeness, subtle flirting, and pretending she isn’t annoyed that he forgot her already. “Your kid is my class, what were the odds of that?”

“Slim, but I hope the odds of picking up where we left off aren’t quite so slim, Mariel.”

If she had been poking around his mind, Maria Garza wouldn’t have done what she did next.

Struck speechless by the name and not quite over her broken engagement, Mary slaps his with the back of her hand which not only leaves his cheek red, but also manages to leave a slight mark where her class ring hit him.

He deserved it, she tells herself even after she alters reality and makes the incident a rumor that only they would know was true.

* * *

Mary doesn’t have to read Batman’s mind to know why he is hanging around her building.

Super powered humans had to deal with the suspicious behavior of superheroes every time they happened to be near one. Much like people of color must deal with racial profiling, two things that make her paranoid.

She didn’t blame him, supervillains seemed to appear from thin air nowadays. Vandal Savage could come after her, if he was the one behind her pregnancy. Or what’s-her-face, the Middle Eastern Noble Woman Bruce broke up with last year, would show up and gut her like a fish.

Now, if he were eavesdropping on her or if he fucked Selina Kyle on the rooftop again, she’d have no choice and use her ability to figure out his secret identity in order to use it against him.

Mary sighed and tossed her textbook aside. She was grounded from using her reality warping and wasn’t to strain herself from overdoing her telepathic ability.

Which reminded her that her Aunt Mina was asked by Batman to rake a position as the lead neurologist in Arkham Asylum and would be moving to Gotham City in a month.

The last good psychiatrist there ended up becoming a freaking super villain, the world didn’t need an evil telepath who fucks with your neurotransmitters.

Or Mina could cure them, but some people are too far gone and must be put down like the old neighbor’s rabid dog that tried to kill Mary when she was ten. Was it so hard for police officer to accidently fill the Joker with lead?

Her Aunt Mina’s call also reminded her of something else.

Batman had asked her in person to take the job the same weekend Bruce had been away on a business trip and gave Mary enough time to figure out how to tell him about the …Thing.

She is a partial believer of the Bruce Wayne is Batman theory floating around the internet. Mary couldn’t confirm if the butts matched. She can admit to checking out Bruce, but she hasn’t met Batman and even then the guy wears a cape.

Rich baby daddy was not as much as a problem as vigilante baby daddy. Both combined is like drinking a shot of vodka only to find out its ethanol.

Mary was supposed to be catching up on her homework, but she can’t focus on anything except the man on the roof. She needs him to leave if she wants to get something done.

Some people can be so inconsiderate to secretly super people that live in their town.

Batman doesn’t stay on the roof top. That was not what she meant.

Something’s wrong, he never does that unless there was some crime to be stopped. Mary tries to make sense of the cacophony of thoughts in the building and can’t find the problem.

What if the problem is her?

Mary’s breath hitches and tries to remember the breathing exercises that are supposed to help her during a panic attack. Inhale, exhale, something-something waves in the ocean.

The feeling of impending doom smothers her like a heavy comforter on the dog days of summer.

Her heart beats faster as he gets closer, and she struggles to inhale and exhale the bits of air her lungs let her take in.

By the time Batman is on the fire escape near her floor she is clutching at a throw pillow and sinking down to the floor in the corner farthest away from any point of entry.

_‘I could turn back and leave and she wouldn’t notice.’_

She is shaking like a leaf in a hurricane and the urge to scream gets stronger with every thundering heartbeat.

She can see him making his way to her floor and she knows she must stop focusing so much on him before she begins disassociating.

_‘I shouldn’t do this.’_

“I can hear your thoughts, you piece of shit!” Mary whispers loudly.

He is going to kill her, isn’t he?

At least she figured out where he got in.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Mary.”

In different circumstances, Mary would’ve figured who he was in seconds just by the sound of his voice, but as she is scared shitless, she can only focus on keeping herself grounded.

Batman walks towards her slowly and holding his hands in the universal I-am-not-going-to-hurt-you way.

She wants to believe him, but if a white police officer can open fire on an unarmed black teenage boy, God knows what a white vigilante can do to her.

Mary doesn’t stop him either, she knows her fears are irrational and uses the thirty or forty seconds it takes for him to cross the room to remind herself that.

‘I am safe, he won’t hurt, Batman doesn’t kill.’ She repeats in her mind, Mary has never felt safe when speaking out loud with a stranger in the room.

He kneels inches away from her and gently grasps her trembling hands. For such a terrifying individual, the Batman is oddly gentle.

His mind is soothing in the maddening noise that perpetually surrounds her. The Batman speaks softly as he guides Mary’s hands to the sides of his cowl and does the unthinkable.

He removes it.

If the burden of being a woman of color with superpowers she had almost no control of wasn’t already terrible now she must add knowing the Holy Grail of secrets: Batman’s identity.


	6. Chapter 6

"If I remove my hand will you promise not to scream?"

Mary nods and hopes he doesn't ask how she bit through the leather, Kevlar, or whatever material his glove is made of.

How the fuck can she do that, he asks himself -which Mary can hear as clearly as if he had asked it aloud.

The answer to that is Neanderthals had very strong teeth which fit perfectly in their bigger jaws. Mary has inherited perfectly normal jaw and pearly white teeth that can leave a dent on aluminum metal.

Even that extra tooth she had removed broke the dentist's tools last year.

He removes his hand and analyzes the damage on his glove.

"I'm part Neanderthal," she says not bothering to apologize. Mary can crack a diamond with her teeth and accidentally bite a dent on her dad's truck, Batman's gauntlet never stood a chance. "I guess you already knew, seeing as you are Batman."

She isn't having a panic attack, weird. Mary assumes its because Bruce just spent the last five minutes helping her calm down.

"I'm sorry for scaring you."

He has apologized six times since he broke into her apartment, seven with this one.

"You should be. I thought you were going to kill me!" Mary scolds and hits him as lightly as she can, as she also happens to have above average strength.

She could be strong enough to lift a car over her head -like her brothers and dad do- if she applied herself when doing weights, but Mary is terrified of being found lifting her spanking new sedan to get the grape Fanta that fell and rolled under it.

"I'm sorry, I should've waited and found a better way to reveal this to you, but I couldn't. The doctor who inseminated you isn't dead and was coerced into doing it by someone."

Eight, or is it nine, because he is making her chamomile tea -and decaf coffee for himself- in her kitchen as he says it.

"Was is it my immortal supervillain grandpa?" Her sentence started out at a normal volume before lowering down as she remembered that she had neighbors. Mary swallows an entire tablespoon of honey to cure her fright -or as it said in Spanish:_ curar el susto_. She didn't have the courage to cleanse herself with an egg in front of him, so she made a mental note to ask Maggie to do it for when she came back from her weekend trip with her friends.

Mary turns on her laptop and puts some series or movie loud enough to serve as a convincing alibi.

"Most likely and he has allies who can help him get his hands on the fetus if you were to have an abortion or kidnap the child once its born." His voice is serious and his face stern, its more genuine than the carefree smile he wears daily.

"Fuck. Have you found out why they want it dead or alive?" Mary thanks him again for her tea and invited him to sit down on the couch with her. Before he has a chance to answer she adds, "As you know, I have a certain ability, but as I respect boundaries -and don't want to ruin a future co-parenting relationship- I'll ask you first, would rather have make this conversation like ten times more private?"

"You can communicate telepathically?" He sounds surprised, Mary surmised that her aunt didn't tell him everything. Can't have an American Organization know everything about of a Mexican based family of superhumans, can we?

_"If I don't take my meds for a week, something about it being linked to my serotonin levels. Much how my omnikinises drains the iron in my blood and might kill me if I use it too much."_ Her voice is clear in his mind like when Martian Manhunter links their minds during missions. Mary pretends she didn't hear that.

_"Vandal Savage wants an heir; one people will think is some sort of Messiah. He saw you as the perfect vessel for such child seeing as you coincide with the Virgin Mary, or at least Mary of Guadalupe."_ He asks taking a sip of his coffee. His coffee is black, with no sugar, cream, or milk. Mary makes a mental note for future references and tries not to stare at his face or remember how great his lips felt on hers last summer.

Bruce Wayne in the bat suit, cowl pulled down, missing a glove, drinking decaf coffee while sitting with her on her salmon pink couch. He looks more comfortable in the bat suit than in any time she has seen him.

_"That makes sense, but, why you? No offense, but your dumbass playboy persona is not what many people want in their gene pool...or associate with either God or Joseph."_

_"I'm the Prince of Gotham, isn't it obvious?"_ His voice sounds resentful, no doubt it had to do with being an orphan and having an alter ego as a bird themed vigilante.

It could be worse; she could've been saddled with a bald republican presidential candidate with a bone to pick with all sorts of illegal aliens -especially ones with superpowers. Mary would had been paraded around to garner the Latino Vote and then disposed off once he had what he wanted.

_"-or kept you in order to weaponize your powers."_ He adds reminding Mary that she should really get more control over them.

At least Bruce is a progressive democrat who won't kill her or force her into becoming a mother.

_"Thank God he picked you and not Lex Luthor."_ Mary reaches out to touch his arm, in comfort and as a friend. She could not let herself fall in love with him, not when they had a baby on the way.

A baby, she is terrified to admit that she wants to have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this quarantine has been helpful in getting me to write. Feel free to comment and tell me what you liked or didn't like about my fic.
> 
> First things first, curar el susto/ cure the fright is a real thing in Latin America. Its related to witchcraft and the most common way to get rid of it- and the evil eye- is by lightly rubbing an egg on yourself. Another non-witchcraft related way is to eat a tablespoon of honey or sugar.
> 
> I hope y'all are safe, my town has three cases and it's likely to grow as my county pretty much shares a Walmart and an HEB. Please keep safe and stay at home unless you have to go out.


	7. Chapter 7

“So, dinner with Bruce motherfucking Wayne and his family, when the fuck did this happen?”

Maggie asked Mary who was lagging behind making sure no one was within earshot. Both sisters loved walking the trails on weekend mornings. In fact, these trails were two counties away from Gotham and had an incredibly low crime rate (compared to Gotham City). Perfect for sorting things out without so many thoughts buzzing around her like flies on cow shit.

Mary’s mind reading also worked as a radar which made sure this convo stayed between her and her sister.

“I had coffee with him the day before yesterday. I told him I wanted to have the baby and there is something I need to tell you about him.”

“He is a sleazy douchebag?” Maggie asks casually.

“No, something really serious that you can’t tell anybody else.” Mary double checked no one was within ear shot.

“He has an STD, worse yet, he is infertile, and the baby isn’t his.” Maggie concludes misreading her sister’s horrified looks.

“Okay not that bad, but kind of bad. And before you interrupt, I am just going to say it: He’s Batman.” Mary whispers hoping no one heard her.

“Holy fucking shit. Does that mean he knows we are; you know?” Maggie doesn’t need to say what she implied.

“I even told him about Kike’s truck and how I managed to freeze time for like thirty seconds just so I could slap him.” Mary hoped her sister wouldn’t think she was naïve to trust a stranger with that sort of information. She did, but Mary forgave her as she herself agreed with her.

She had made the mistake of laying all her cards on the table, and Mary didn’t like being at the mercy of strangers. Not when that stranger clearly had issues, a shit ton of enemies, and was a high-ranking member of the Justice League.

* * *

(that coffee the day before yesterday)

Mary had fought the urge to keep quiet and do nothing that may make her come across as clingy and annoying, and told him he was welcome to come by anytime, making sure to let him know he had a choice.

She doesn’t regret it and just two nights later he takes her up on her offer. Bruce didn’t come as Batman and once the coffee is made, he asks her about her reality altering.

Superpowers over coffee. The topic wasn’t the strangest thing involved over this impromptu coffee date with her billionaire baby daddy. He was in a three-piece suit that brought out the intense blue in his eyes and she wore a beige sweater that brought out a sickly yellow undertone to her tanned skin.

Superpowers over coffee was a talk people in her family discovered another one born with powers and cataloged who had what. More often than not, she’s had this conversation in a ratty old t-shirt, a messy bun and her hot pink ninety-nine cent _chanclas_.

“It uses the iron in my blood cells for the thing to happen, the source of it is in my spleen. That means that doing things like finding an extra twenty bucks when I need it kills just enough red cells to make me feel dizzy, while stopping time just to slap you left me sick for like a good two days.”

“It’s that bad?” He doesn’t hide his concern; she could die from using her ability.

“You should’ve seen me when I made my ex’s truck spontaneously combust, I ended up in the hospital for the whole weekend after passing out in the parking lot.” She laughs at the memory, and he just looks a bit concerned. It was funny for her, and Mary liked to see the humor in her own misfortunes.

He chuckles, unsure if it was okay to laugh, “I hope I never do something to warrant you making the bat mobile explode.”

_“_Don’t worry, I have to wait like seven or eight months before I can make shit explode with my mind or stop time for a couple of minutes.” She was almost two months pregnant and due in late April or early May, if her pregnancy decided to stick to her due date. No kid in her family had been born on its due date, Mary herself had been born a week before it while her youngest brother was born at seven months.

“Does this mean you want to have the baby?” She pretends she didn’t feel the trepidation he so easily hid in his voice.

Mary understands fear better than anyone; she has only had anxiety since she was sixteen years old.

She was downright petrified of admitting to herself that she wanted her child, and she has the both experience and her family’s unconditional support to raise a superhuman child.

“Yeah, I think so. I know things will be difficult and our baby is going to be in danger every second of the day. Although it’s going to be in danger even if I get an abortion. I mean my not really unique but still unique physiology means I have to get an in-clinic abortion which honestly terrifies me.” She rambles on about her fear of being found out and blushes in embarrassment when realizes she hasn’t stopped talking.

“I’d make sure they couldn’t do anything to you or the remains, you know that.” His eyes don’t leave hers. Mary Garza would've probably kissed him if she wasn’t focused on the current matter at hand.

“Yeah, but the thing is I don’t want to have an abortion and I couldn’t live with abandoning my own child when I am fully capable of raising it.” Mary takes a sip of her coffee feeling better having said her piece and only hopes he is willing to step up as a dad.

“And I am more than happy to help you, I wouldn’t walk out of my own child and I, I hope you know that.” He reaches out and takes her free hand and she feels her heart flutter.

Mary must stop anything that could lead to romance if she wants to have a healthy co-parenting relationship. It’ll be successful as he has more baggage than she has, and Mary is a mentally ill superpowered woman of color.

“Does Grayson know about this?” Mary swiftly removes her hand and gestures to her nonexistent baby bump. In three weeks, she won’t be able to hide it and by Christmas they would be able to know the baby’s gender, and by Mother’s Day she would be a mom.

“Dick knows you’re pregnant, he doesn’t know I am the father and all the particulars of the story. I was waiting for your permission to tell him, but I am afraid Alfred knows everything.”

“You have my permission to tell Dick and your friends about it and my family has probably spread the word because my mom loves to gossip. Which reminds me, now that you know we are going to have this baby, are you going to make it public?”

“Eventually, I think it’ll be impossible to hide it. If Savage is following the gospel, you might find yourself exposed on Christmas Eve.”

She had thought of that and hoped to leave for her hometown until spring semester began. At least no clowns, penguins, or a doped-up Latin American that sounds like Dany Trejo wouldn’t attack any mob that forms outside her apartment to worship her. Mary isn’t running away with her imagination on that, some people drove from north Texas all the way to the border to worship a tree that ‘froze’ in the summer of 2007. Mary didn’t have to think that hard to imagine what kind of crowd a pregnant virgin named Maria would bring.

“Unless he’s going by the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe, it might be December 9. That was the first time she appeared to Juan Diego. December 12 is when she appears to the bishop on Juan Diego’s cloak filled with roses. I wonder why he didn’t do this like seven months ago, Christmas being Christmas.” Mary continues her rambling and slowly comes to a differeant realization.

"Which brings us to my second theory, Savage knows about your reality warping."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first,I hope you all our safe from both the Pandemic, peaceful protests gone wrong, and the Police.  
I thank you all for reading. Please leave something like a comment and Kudos to assure me that you aren’t a bot and that this shit is actually readable.
> 
> The doped-up Latin American that sounds like Dany Trejo is obviously Bane, who was voiced by Dany Trejo on Young Justice. Mary summarized the origin story of the Virgin of Guadalupe, if you want more detail just open google on a new tab. Also chanclas is slang for flip flops and any other type of sandal.
> 
> I shit you not, the ‘Miracle Ice Tree’ is real, and I visited it with my mom ,so we could get ‘blessed’ by its magical ice and a Catholic Priest from the local Church. Turned out to be a bug infestation, but in this fic it was probably Mary’s cousin with ice powers.  
Here is the article I demonstrate as proof, Montereyherald .com/ 2007/09/22/miracle-ice-or-bug-spittle/
> 
> The Rio Grande Valley is also home to the Jesus on the Tortilla, the Virgin on the curtains, the Virgin on the Camaro and the one on the tree. Which is one of the reasons Mary is from the Valley, some other reasons is that we exist and we are the ones who suffer when republicans bring up immigrants, a wall and Mexico.


	8. Chapter 8

“Just sign here and your package will be safely delivered to its destination.” The postal worker wouldn’t be so chipper if she knew the woman sending the package had been made in a lab ten years ago. Elise smiled in return, signed, and then left the busy post office feeling much better about what she and her wife did in Gotham City.

Katya wouldn’t like this once she finds out. Kitty Kat hated anything that could invite hypothetical doom on them. In this case, Katya was right.

Lyudmila Wagner had been cloned seven years after being murdered in a hate crime on the year 1999 in Vlatava. Even given a <strike>second</strike> third chance to live happily ever after with the love of her life, Lyudmila, now Elise Lovett, had chosen a stranger’s life over Katya, her wife and creator.

California was everything they had dreamed of and some more, but the safety of Maria Garza and her child was something only the Batman could help her with.

He was the father of the child, who better than him to protect them from Lex Luthor?

* * *

That was by far the strangest dinner she has been to. She had been invited to dinner by her white friends, but none of them had been billionaires with a butler or had the Batcave right under their fucking mansion.

It was strange to eat without the staples of Latin American cuisine, and Mary could really go for some tortillas and a coke. The food was good, and she had nothing to complain about, except about Alfred not breaking decorum and eating in the kitchen or that Bruce warned her telepathically about not swearing in Alfred’s hearing. Other than that, dinner was far better than she had expected.

Dick, thank God, had taken it well. Mary was worried he’d take it badly, like she did when Maggie was born. Richard Grayson as her baby’s older brother didn’t give her as much anxiety until she found out he was Robin and plans to move to Bludhaven and go out on his own. Grayson might as well had said he huffs gasoline and drinks laundry detergent.

Mary hadn’t thought it would be Gotham’s dynamic duo the reason she ends up in another mental asylum. Hopefully, it won’t be Arkham or a lab.

Mary fucking hated stairs. She was anemic, pregnant with a superpowered child and she had never gotten up or down a flight of stairs without it leaving her breathless and about to pass out. She would explore the Batcave later, but for now Mary would be more than happy to just sit down.

Mary sat on his chair. It smelled of him and made her feel safe enough to give out her list of demands regarding how his superhero identity and legacy should be introduced to the ten-week fetus developing inside her.

“First things first, our kid can’t go out as Robin until they are eighteen and only if they want to be vigilantes.” Their son, daughter or nonbinary child should have a life as normal as she did. If they were lucky without the whole neurodivergent part.

“That sounds reasonable.” He didn’t fight her on the subject which Mary found surprising. If he did, she wouldn’t hesitate to pull the I-have-anxiety and that’s-child-endangerment cards. The first one worked for everything and had yet to fail her. The second one always worked on people who ask her about her opinion on underage vigilantes.

“Also, you can’t tell the Justice League about my other ability or whatever ability our kid might get, the information they have regarding my family is incomplete for a reason.” Mary doesn’t need to explain why, nor does he ask. It’s all a matter of safety.

“I can’t promise you that.” The look in his eyes and the stillness around his psyche means he is serious.

Mary, even with two whole years of law school and a lifetime arguing with anyone who disagreed with her, knew it would be a cold day in hell before she could beat Batman at anything and compromised.

“The first part I will come to terms with someday, but the second part can deport thirty of my cousins and you know what happens to supers and their families in Mexico.” The cartels didn’t hesitate to recruit supers and if you refused, your head would be displayed as a trophy by the narcos and your corpse sold to unsuspecting people at a meat market. Just the thought of it made the bile rise to her throat.

“It is for their safety as well as yours and the baby’s. I can’t negotiate their visas if the Justice League can’t vouch for them.” He is unmovable. No persuasion or manipulation would be effective on him, the Batman had trained himself to become immune to her powers. Mary wondered how much time would have to pass for it to be socially acceptable to ask him about that.

She stands her ground, and after a whole minute gives in as she begrudgingly accepted the logic behind his reasoning.

“Fine, you win.” Mary sighs in defeat.

“Now to the other thing I wanted to discuss with you. Who the fuck is after me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its been a while, I think. There are roughly 600 cases in my county. I should mention that’s like 10 percent of the county and all hospitals in the Rio Grande Valley are full. Yep, I might not even live to finish this WIP at this rate.  
This chapter is kinda short, but that’s how it came out so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. It might be because I've spent most of this time binging on Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act on Netflix and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime.  
As always leave a comment, a kudos or a bookmark/subscription.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter might've gotten uploaded sooner if I hadn't gotten coronavirus almost two weeks ago thus making me put it on hold until I was well enough to finish and edit.

“Lex Luthor seems to have been keeping track of your family and no doubt knows about your powers. He devised a plan that might get Savage in his corner and help him get control over you so as to weaponize your ability.” The gravitas in Bruce’s voice give the effect it is supposed to have.

“That sounds like a hell of a way to get the Latino vote, if you ask me.” Mary, who has long since realized that humor is one of her favorite way of coping with something, answers. He sighs, the slight trace of annoyance in it letting her know he is growing comfortable with her.

“And since Mary’s powers are the strongest ones in our immediate family as well as the only one in who isn’t married or a teenager, she became the obvious choice to become his hostage First Lady.” Maggie answers from the top of the stairs leading back to the manor. Maggie wasn’t supposed to have heard this conversation, but it saved Mary the trouble from explaining it afterwards hence her only answer being a sigh of relief.

“Sorry, B, but she talked me into it.” Dick said as both teenagers ---Maggie was barely eighteen--- joined them by the Bat Computer. “She’s in your chair.” The 17-year-old Romani-American points out before letting his foster father keep explaining.

“He doesn’t know I am Batman, which means he isn’t using you as leverage.” He runs a hand over his jet-black hair and would’ve continued explaining it if Maggie hadn’t interrupted. It’s Dick’s turn to sigh in relief and Mary pretends not to hear his thoughts on Luthor’s intelligence.

“What about Savage, is he involved with this?” Maggie asks the question that has been on Mary’s mind since he invited her to dinner two nights ago. Mary was more than glad to have Maggie take over the speaking parts, it gave her time to analyze everything and find any clues as to how is this going to happen.

“Vandal Savage is not yet involved with what he has planned, and if he were to collaborate with Luthor on this you and your sister will be the first to know. Amanda Waller, however, is involved.” Even he expressed some fear when he mentioned ‘the Wall,’ it made Mary wonder if she was as bad as people claimed. Dick confirmed that yes, the African American government official was worse than she appeared.

“And this the same Amanda Waller who is head of the southeastern DEO?” DEO being the Department of Extranormal Operations, something just as terrifying as white police officers, most members of the Republican Party, some supervillains and ICE, Mary reminded Dick just as Batman began speaking again.

“She needs some leverage over you and your family in case they step out of line. By making me the father, not only she was able to confirm my identity as Batman as well as have something on the Justice League.” That made sense, Julio and Agustin were members of one of the more dangerous cartels in northern Mexico and if Waller wanted to keep Batman under control she’d have to figure out who the fuck he was.

“In other words, the government is after me because I made a pickup truck combust with my mind in March and think I might take a page out of my evil grandpa’s book or join my cousins in the drug war.” That thing with her exes’ truck was the only time she had used her omni kinesis in public, although no one can prove she did it. She did pass out after it happened as proven by the camera footage and tiny scar on the side of her head that hit the edge of the sidewalk.

“You and your sister will be in danger. I need you to move out of your current apartment and to a house I own in a residential area.” There is an unmistakable glee coming from Maggie, who fucking hates their tiny shoebox of an apartment, as Bruce finishes his piece.

Mary pretends she isn’t uncomfortable accepting a house from a stranger and being unable to make sure Bruce and Dick are okay or keeping an eye out for trouble coming their way. “When will we be able to move into it?”

“As soon as you sign the deed.”

* * *

(Monday afternoon, two days after the dinner at Wayne Manor)

“You don’t have to give me a house.” Mary said honestly as he handed over the keys and showed her inside the fully furnished two story four-bedroom suburban dream house she was unlikely to afford in this lifetime.

It was a little plain for her taste, but that could be fixed by the time she finished moving in sometime next week. There was also a nice back yard with a sturdy fence and, best of all, this a safe distance from her neighbors therefore giving her telepathy a break from all the noise of the city.

But Mary couldn’t accept it.

“You live in a one-bedroom apartment in Crime Alley.” He puts his hands on her shoulders reminding her that it is for her safety and not because he just randomly decided he was giving her a house. “I might as well hand you over to Luthor wrapped in a fucking bow if I let you remain there.” Despite his upbringing, Bruce could swear. Especially if Mary had been insisting that she didn’t need a house ---in a gated community just outside of Gotham City and two miles away from Wayne Manor--- since he showed up that Monday afternoon.

“I am sorry if I sound ungrateful. I’m not used to having anyone just give me something especially of this scale without an ulterior motive.” The last time someone had loaned her an apartment they made her to smuggle one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of Venom in her car.

Bruce wasn’t like that. Bruce Thomas Wayne would never ask her to do something she didn’t want or couldn’t do. That sentence had become one of her mantras whenever her anxiety regarding him turning on her and forcing her into vigilantism would rear its ugly head.

She didn’t like owing people especially people who expect her to do something that might lead her back to the place she was two years ago. Mary reminds herself that the man currently telling her how her security system works is a genuinely good person who doesn't deserve her doubts on his character.

“There’s no need to apologize and for what it’s worth I hope our kid is as humble as you.” He smiled and gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze before unconsciously holding onto her hand.

Mary blushes and inwardly panics when she realizes that Bruce might like her too. For the good of the baby they are having she can’t afford to jeopardize their friendship and lets go of his hand. Neither spoke on the way back. It feels like forever when Mary finally works up the confidence ask him the thing she should’ve brought up earlier but didn’t until they reached her apartment building.

“I have an ultrasound scheduled on Friday morning; would you like to come?” Mary asks him as he opens the car door.

“I’d love to.” He answers with a hesitant smile that softens the hardness in his blue eyes and gives her butterflies in her belly. “I would like to be the one to take you, if Maggie doesn’t mind.”

“I don’t think she will.” Mary can’t help but smile in return. She should really get over her crush, she thinks when she accidentally trips on the sidewalk and dramatically falls into his arms.

“Holy Shit!” That is all Mary manages to say the second she notices her soon to be former neighbor, the newest photographer for the Gotham Gazette, grinning evilly after taking the picture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Venom is the super addictive super strength drug that gives Bane his powers and is sold on the DC universe people who want super strength.  
I would love to read what you guys thought of this chapter as it feels a bit iffy with me and I would also love to vote on whether Mary should have a boy or a girl, which will be revealed in some near future if the Coronavirus hits me up for a rematch or Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hanna beats it to it.  
Stay safe, cuz its only going to get worse.


	10. Chapter 10

“You can’t send that picture to your boss.” Mary was going to kill Frankie if they had. No, she wouldn’t she adores Frankie.

“It’s too late and I’m sorry, but you know how much I need that money, surely your boyfriend can understand that. Now do you want coffee, tea or water.”

“He’s not my boyfriend! Please, I’m going to lose that internship if they think I have a conflict of interest.” Mary whined and then added,” I already had more coffee than I should, and I don’t want to have tea, so water.”

Now that she had a half a million-dollar lawsuit for wrongful insemination, she wouldn’t have to keep working as a substitute teacher after her contract expired in December. Mary would now be interning for a lawyer who worked pro-bono by providing legal representation to underprivileged people of color. She had applied for an internship with the District Attorney’s office, but one look at her medical history was enough for them to say ,” Get the (fuck) out, we don’t want another Harvey Dent”.

“Well, you should’ve thought about it better than becoming one of Bruce’s fuck buddies.” Frankie responds and asks, “Ice or no Ice?”

“Ice. We’re not fucking, Frankie.” Mary flustered at the idea of sleeping with Bruce snaps at her genderfluid neighbor. Maria Guadalupe Garza-Espinoza was a hetero romantic demisexual. Which meant that while she could fall in love with men, she didn’t always lust for them unless there was a deep bond between her and the man she was dating. In this case, they weren't dating which made it worse.

“Then how the hell did you get that bun in the oven? Immaculate Conception?” They say sarcastically as they hand Mary the glass of water and Frankie stirs their instant coffee a few more times before sitting at the table.

“If I tell you the truth, do you promise not to tell your boss or anyone who might broadcast it to the whole fucking world?”

“I promise, and I promise I won’t think less of you for having a child out of wedlock or have an abortion. I am here for you, _Corazon_.” Frankie takes Mary’s hands in theirs and emphasizes their support.

“You know that robbery at the sperm bank some three months ago and how I told you that two months ago the gynecologist who did my physical died in a car accident. Yeah turns out someone paid that doctor to drug me, inseminate me with Bruce’s sperm sample and then killed her and her wife to cover their up tracks.”

Mary looks at Frankie and their expression of surprise turns into horror. “I guess you could say it was by immaculate conception... in a fucked up nonconsensual way; at least God asked Mary for permission and this bitch just fucking drugged me with a fucking minute maid.”

“Mary what the fuck?” 

“That’s not all, Bruce just bought me a house because, I guess, that’s what rich baby daddies do. So, if we are all alive this weekend would you like to see it?” Mary feels like when she was fourteen and her mother let Mary and her sisters have full control over the remodeling of their shared bedroom.

“You know it. Just let me warn you, Vicky Vale is kind of obsessed with the Bruce Wayne is Batman theory and she ” Their cell phone rings, it was their ringtone designated for the one and only, Victoria Vale. “If she fires me, can I go live with you?”

* * *

Everything seemed to be going great for her. The colors seemed brighter, nothing had gone wrong during the day and the usual weight on her chest was not there. One whole week without her anxiety, Mary knew these bouts of peace and joy could be over in any second, but nothing stopped her from thinking that maybe, just maybe, her mental illness might leave for good.

She would be moving into her new house tomorrow morning and after a tearful goodbye from Cati and her son, Jason, the day had gone incredibly well. Hell, even crime had slowed down now that her aunt had officially joined Arkham Asylum as its newest neurologist.

Mary had woken up seeking leftover cheesecake and the squeeze bottle of _cajeta _she had in her fridge and while she was at it, she ate the last of her kosher pickles. Her cravings were getting out of hand, she admits to herself as she finishes said pickle and grabs her cake. It was four in the fucking morning, and it seemed Saturday would also be one of her good days. Mary let out a quiet yay as she squeezed the bottle and _cajeta_­ dripped into her mouth.

That was until she heard the all too familiar wail of police sirens that freak her out and makes her choke on her Mexican caramel.

“Fuck.” Mary spits out some _cajeta_ she choked on.

Something is going to go wrong, horribly wrong. Bruce and Dick could die, someone would break into her apartment and kill her and her sister, or some government spook would show up and kidnap her.

Mary was not going to get those two more hours of sleep and tomorrow she would start moving into her new house.

Not wanting to wake up her sister by cleaning, baking or any of the things that usually help her cope with it; Mary settles with checking up on Bruce as he happens to be near her building.

She won’t be able to that anymore, not unless his rogue’s gallery trespasses on the gated community her house was in. Mary however would also be able to tell when he went out as Batman and confirm he and Dick got home safely.

Although she would be seeing him tomorrow at noon-ish for an appointment with her OBGYN because there is no way in hell he would miss the ultrasound.

_“I haven’t thanked you for making sure Frankie still has a job.”_ With those words she can confirm that he is fine, Dick was safe at the manor and the people after her would have to think twice before making a move.

_“You don’t have to thank me and neither does Frankie. They didn’t deserve to be fired because Vicky didn’t get to make headlines with our picture.”_ Bruce answered, the pain of his injuries highlighting his thoughts and giving her a secondhand type of pain.

_ “I have extra strength Tylenol and Bengay. Never mind, I don’t have Bengay, but Vicks Vapor rub usually does the trick.”_

It’s a quiet night, and by quiet she means the city hasn’t been taken over by the Joker, the Riddler or any of the costumed freaks cops should just hurry up and kill. Mary briefly wonders if she’s had anything to do with that. There’s been less crime since she moved here, but it could also be that people are trying to fix the city’s problems by attacking the root causes of its high crime rate.

_“Thanks for the offer, but I can get home before it hurts worse. Just keep talking and once I am past your building, I’ll call you.”_ He turns down her offer and Mary wonders if the disappointment she feels is hers or his. Both, he answers reminding her that a phone call is better than communicating telepathically.

_“We’ll have brunch tomorrow after your appointment. I already told Frankie where it is,”_ Bruce says a smile on his face that she can’t see but can feel as it coats his thoughts with its not very subtle joy. The idea of seeing their baby through an ultrasound seems to clear away some of the gloom that surrounds him.

“_Sounds great. Just as long it’s not the cafe near Gotham Academy, I don’t want to run into the asshole vice principal who implied I am a slut or the bitchy counselor who thinks I only got into Gotham Law because of Affirmative Action_.” Mary tells him, trying to weasel out the place he is taking her to, he was winging it. He was very sweet about their not date, but she, much like him, liked to be prepared. So, unless he wanted to have her dig around his mind while he fights a concussion and can’t keep her out of there, he had to tell her. He calls her just as he is out of her range.

“Are you sure you want Frankie to photograph us tomorrow after your appointment? You know you can wait until you’re showing.” Bruce asked letting her know he didn’t think going public a few days after the incident with Frankie happened was a good idea.

“I need to do it on my terms, and I want to get things out of the way while I am prepared for it. You of all people understand why. Which is why I need to know where the fuck you are taking me.” Mary closes the bedroom door to avoid waking up Maggie.

“It’s near Wayne Towers.” He says keeping his answer vague.

“There are like four or five places near your office. I need to know which one so I can dress appropriately, and I would like for Maggie to know where to reach me if something happens. You should’ve already guessed I don’t like surprises.” Mary didn’t like the feeling of vulnerability that came with not knowing where someone is taking you.

“I don’t like them either. It’s the one directly across the street, you’ve been there twice with Frankie.”

“Oh, that one’s nice. Not too fancy, great crepes and it has great lighting. So what car are you picking me up in?” Mary asked since he had been picking her up in different cars since Frankie took the picture.

“The black Corvette.” The black Corvette was the one he would usually pick her up in and the one he had driven on that date in Houston. He hadn’t used it this past week to avoid having more people find out he was her baby daddy and she missed it. If Mary was being honest, she liked that car better than the last four he’s picked her up in. Mary felt stupid to admit that she liked that car because he had kissed her in it and now it had sentimental value.

“I am sorry I threw up on your Porsche yesterday. I’ll try not to throw up on your car tomorrow,” Mary apologizes even if she can’t control her morning sickness. If she were the gambling type, she’d bet on her baby being a girl.

“Don’t worry about it and go to sleep already, one of us has to be in a condition to drive tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should start off with saying that like two thirds of this fic were written exactly the same night Hurricane Hanna hit and then the side effects left by ‘rona took over and I got so tired that I napped in between paragraphs.   
Frankie is a genderfluid afro-latine OC whose pronouns are they/them. Originally, Frankie was going to be an asshole guy who was a total coconut (racial slang for a Latine or South Asian who’s assimilated too much into white culture. a.k.a. brown on the outside/white on the inside, and example would be Ted Cruz), but they were like ‘no ,pendeja, I am just trying to pay my rent’.


	11. Chapter 11

"Nirvana, really?' Mary gives him an incredulous look. This was the same guy who ate her cold pizza with a knife and fork. Bruce, just like Mary, are millennials. But if you asked Mary, she liked Maná better than Nirvana.

"Just because Alfred likes classical music doesn't mean I am forbidden from hearing music I like." There is the smile that makes him look more like the guy who is just really trying his best and struggling with his high-functioning depression and not the suave playboy who is so perfect it creeps her out a little bit. She prefers the real Bruce as opposed to the guy he pretends to be. "Hell, my _mom_ loved Nirvana and even went to Kurt Cobain's funeral."

"No, you're kidding," Mary said incredulously, much like running into her high school economics teacher at a nightclub with her much younger third husband, hearing Bruce's late mother, liked a punk band was something to warrant that sort of excited no.

"I'm serious, my mom had every CD, went to Kurt Cobain's last concert and Alfred let me keep the newspaper clipping of her hugging Courtney Love." There is a tinge of sadness when he speaks of them. "I'll show them to you when you come over."

"You aren't naming our baby after Kurt Cobian," Mary says bringing him out of the funk he was beginning to sink into.

"And you aren't naming the baby after Fher Olvera." He replied before adding, "Thomas and Martha should also be in the list of names we are not naming them."

"Camila sounds nice as does Natalia and Julieta." Mary didn't need to mention that Camila was the name of a rock-pop boy band or that Natalia Lafourcade and Julieta Venegas were also Mexican singers of the same genre. He had already gone through her playlist before taking the aux cord back and playing his instead.

"Julieta or Juliet don't sound good and I want to avoid any reference to Shakespeare's tragedies with our kid." He says and Mary snorts.

"So, its Jesus, Bruce, Maria, anything that starts with Alex, Ricardo, Kurt, Fher, any variation of Juliet, Thomas and Martha." The list of names they wouldn't name their child was getting bigger by the second and that was without including the names of their exes. Luckily, they had six months and two weeks to decide on a name.

"Are we hyphening our last names or just going with one?" He asked trying out a name in his head. He might as well do it aloud, but Mary didn't want to remind him that his thoughts were no longer private.

Her new prescription let have hear the people closest to her and for once she didn't project her own thoughts and feelings to everyone within one hundred yards from her. It also lowered her anxiety levels and did not have as any side effects as the previous ones. Another thing to be eternally grateful to Bruce for, it was Wayne Pharmaceuticals that patented this wonderful new anti-anxiety drug. Which means she could get it for free if she ever wanted to, not that she will ever do that, she already owes him a lot of shit and she doesn't want to take advantage of him.

"I'd love to go with one, yours to be specific, because Garza-Espinoza was hell to write as a kid, but Garza and Wayne are both five letters long so it won't be that much trouble for our kid. Maybe Wayne-Garza, so they can be like 'surprise, bitch, I'm also Mexican'."

"How about Silas for a boy?" Bruce asked wondering if she remembered how they had talked about his ancestor who had just been exonerated by President Obama a week before they met. She did, even tipsy she could remember just some odd things she heard or did. Like when she gave her left stiletto to the cashier at Taco Palenque because she couldn't remember her phone number after getting white girl wasted at her cousin's quinceañera.

"Silas Wayne-Garza, its sounds nice and my family can pronounce it, I like it. So, Silas for a boy, we can decide if we are going with a middle name once the blood tests get back, unless it's a girl then I guess we should decide on a girl's name."

They stay quiet before Mary opens her trap again, she has always been the talkative one. It came with being constantly bombarded with other people's thoughts and the effect it had on her neurodivergent ass.

"Have you heard anything from the doctor and her wife?" She asked. Luthor would stop at nothing to get to her and she feared of what would happen to the women who were forced to inseminate her. Mary's case had the nasty side effect of stigmatizing lesbian and bisexual women in the medical field. Her new boss already had three cases where doctors were fired and some even were attacked by homophobic assholes just for being gay women. She had half a mind to pummel them with her fists but would bring a whole bunch of problems like putting roughly three hundred superpowered people in her family in danger.

"They are safe and willing to cooperate with me as long as I can keep my end of the deal." He keeps it vague but gives her the information she needs. Not that she's fine with it, but he is unlikely to tell her more. "I cannot tell you more than that because it jeopardizes the League's investigations into the projects Katya was part of and your own safety." He sighs emphasizing the last part hoping Mary might stop asking.

"Fine, I won't push you for more until you feel it safe to include me in the investigation." Mary doesn't like how annoyed she sounds at not being included.

The Justice League hasn't been around for very long -Robin had been around longer by some two years if you want to count from when he _really_ began as Bruce's sidekick. Hell, Maggie's obsession for all things Hannah Montana had just ignited when they set up the Hall of Justice in D.C. some five years ago.

Mary was amid her infamous mental breakdown when Wonder Woman and Superman tried to recruit her three years ago. Needless to say, '_váyanse a chingar a su puta madre_' was the nicest thing her mom told them that day.

* * *

There is no one in the waiting room of the clinic, for that Mary thanks God. They don't wait very long and at this point she surmises that if your baby daddy is fabulously rich, but not in the asshole way -like Trump, Jeffery Epstein and Jeff Bezos are- people will willingly give you nice things like not having to hear every mom-to-be ask and confirm that ,yeah, your baby daddy is in fact Bruce motherfucking Wayne.

The nurses and doctors can freely spread this juicy piece of gossip as they deserve to be the first people to know and after lunch the world will know either way.

"Are you nervous?" He asks, his own nervousness seeping through the nervous smile he's been wearing all morning. They made him wait in the car for most of the check ups and tests done to confirm that the baby was as healthy as it should be.

"Not really, I used to go to my mom's appointments and then Miranda's, but now that I am the one expecting, I am afraid of getting bad news, like twins, birth defects and such." She answers and somehow makes him feel better by letting him know that she shares his fears.

"Twins?" he asks, but he won't get an answer as the technician comes in. Her father had a twin sibling that died because of the pesticides used in the fields her grandmother had worked in the United States before she married Mary's grandfather, Mary telepathically reminded him.

"Twice the fun and double the trouble," She answers.

"This might be a bit cold." The technician does an excellent job pretending that having the Prince of Gotham sitting in the chair beside the hospital bed, the one usually for expectant fathers, isn't a big deal. Mary finds no hint of it in her sweet and polite smile.

Mary involuntarily recoils the second the gel is squirted on her belly. Even with the warning she still hadn't been mentally prepared for.

At least it wasn't a sonogram, Mary was horrified when they told her the little wand was going up inside her vag.

No matter how many times she saw her baby through the sonograms and ultrasounds-just twice since she found out she was pregnant- Mary would melt into a puddle of feelings the second it appeared on the medium sized tv screen put directly in front of the bed to give everyone a better view of it.

There is a sense of awe and wonder as well as the strange mixture of fear, hope, and love in the whirlpool of feelings and emotions Bruce can barely keep under control. Mary smiles and doesn't hold back the few tears that manage to slip out unnoticed as she drinks in the sight of their child, the sound of its heart beat and Bruce barely keeping composure at seeing his child for the first time.

Who knew something the size of a strawberry that barely resembled a tiny human would drive the Batman to tears?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well did I take my sweet time with this?
> 
> First things first, Vayanse a chingar a su madre, is the plural versions of the phrase go fuck/bother(in curse terms) your whore mother in spanish.
> 
> To be honest if the Batman trailer hadn't come out, I probably would've taken longer. The trailer also features a song by Nirvana. Which is where my head canon that Bruce and his mom are huge fans. Mana is a Mexican rock band with it s lead singer Fher Olvera.  
Also the story takes place in late 2015 -Bruce and Mary are both older millennials- and Mary is around ten weeks pregnant. Bruce is turning 30 and Mary is just a few months short of 26, even though she hasn't really aged since she was 20 as she either drunk used her reality warping power to age slower or it might be genetic due to having an immortal as her grandfather.
> 
> I feel like I should have the plot moving, but at this point the characters drive the story and I'm gonna see where this goes.


	12. Chapter 12

“You look beautiful, no one is going to notice that you did your makeup in the car.” He reassures her as she pretends not to hear Frankie taking the pictures. He makes a mental note to buy them a better camera as a thank you gift.

“You were the one who made me cry.” Mary leaned forward, fork in hand and not a hair out of place. In different circumstances, Bruce wouldn’t have hesitated on going for her, and part of him believed she would’ve reciprocated.

“I’m sorry, I had no idea you are the type to cry when someone else cries.” He apologizes as if it had been his entire fault that they had both cried their eyes out when seeing the ultrasound of the baby.

“And I’m sorry that me being the father of your child is going to endanger your internship with Dr. Almeida.” He says wryly knowing the Chilean Lawyer at the head of the best legal clinic in Gotham County didn’t like him sleeping around with her interns, especially promising ones like Mary.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I started volunteering at the Catholic Charity for immigrants and the food pantry in Park Row to amp up my resume.”

Mary counts the five seconds it takes for Bruce to come up with ways to keep her safe. He apologizes after asking, “Why the fuck do you keep going back there?”

“Because that’s where my friends live.” She answers as if it weren’t one of the most dangerous places in Gotham. “Do remember I live and grew up a ten-minute drive from Tamaulipas, Mexico.”

He remembers at least two stories she’s told him where she’s had to hide underneath a table when cartel members started a fight near her favorite taco place in her parents' hometown. He has also seen the reports from the Watchtower that honestly made him fear for her life knowing she will likely go visit her family in Mexico during winter break.

“That doesn’t help, Mary.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me, Bruce.” Mary assured him, as if she had any real power to stop it from happening.

“Its two birds with one stone: I get the internship as well as a chance to do something meaningful with my life,” Mary continued and bites her bottom lip holding back a teasing grin “…and I get to make my mom believe that I still go to church when she comes to visit me on spring break.”

“Almeida would be very lucky to have you, and if she can’t get past it then it’s her loss.” Bruce smiles, he hasn’t really stopped smiling since that morning and he’s learned to enjoy these moments. “And I would be willing to help you convince your mom, so long as you help me explain to her that yes, Jewish people can be atheist.”

“Deal, but I will expect gifts on Hanukkah as well as my birthday, Christmas, and Three Kings’ Day.”

“Here’s to you getting your internship and lying to your mother.” He teases and raises his glass.

They toast to her career with orange juice and before they can resume their brunch, the inevitable happen.

“Who is that with Bruce Wayne?”

Fuck.

* * *

In a matter of minutes, the world knew that a Mexican American law student, and substitute teacher at Gotham Academy by the name of Maria Garza was pregnant with Bruce Wayne’s baby.

Sure, there would be an article in which it emphasized that she had been inseminated against her will by a mentally unstable doctor, but no one cared and assumed they were dating or at least fucking. Mary wouldn’t have believed it either if it had happened to someone else, but that didn’t excuse the god-awful comments she read.

To date Bruce Wayne was being the entire country’s flavor of the month and so far, no girl ---or Clark Kent--- had made it as far as the One Ring.

Even some people have given up hope on Bruce Wayne ever having Mrs. Wayne ---or Mr. Wayne because the man might be cisgender, but he sure as hell wasn’t straight.

The world floundered in between pitying, glorifying, or slut-shaming (CNN, Telemundo, and Fox News respectively) as no one really knew how to speak about Bruce Wayne’s baby mama.

At least Latin American networks never found it in their hearts to doubt her story or speak badly of her.

Mary had never thought she would somehow get all that slut shaming and finger pointing her date didn’t give her. When her date made local news, local gossips had felt bad for her and told her they would pray for her to get a call back from Bruce. (Mary hadn’t even gotten his number, but she wasn’t going to tell her friend who had her own radio station that)

Now her virtue and asexuality were being disparaged by the same people who praised her on being a ‘great example for the younger girls’. If only people would read the fucking article.

As a member of the populace that identify as female, Mary was no stranger to be called a whore by random people. As hurtful as it was, it relieved her to know she still wasn’t being made out to be some modern incarnation of the Virgin Mary. Walter Mercado and several other astrologers on Television had speculated it, but no one seemed to believe it.

* * *

“The old man who sells oranges on the stoplight gave me a bag of oranges for you. I gave him twenty bucks.” Maggie effortlessly tosses a big sack of oranges over the marble counter.

“That’s nice.” Mary muttered while she aggressively scrubbed the dishes. She had cooked herself tacos al pastor, wanting something greasy and fattening like pork tacos marinated with chili peppers and pineapple. “Letty made me pay full price for the Arepas at the food truck this morning.”

“No one has actually said anything bad about you, except the vindictive bitch Bruce dated three months ago. Everyone thinks you are a telenovela come true. Like the one on CW with Jaime Camil and Gina Rodriguez. Hell, the entire cast sent you a gift and donated to the charities your volunteer at.”

“Yeah, but they haven’t become the unwilling face of pro-lifers and just about every group of people hates us. Ted fucking Cruz and Greg fucking Abbot tweeted some bullshit story where I embody good Christian values. For fuck’s sake we’re shitty Catholics and I am Pro-Choice!” Mary leans a little too much on the sink she dents it.

“Okay calm down, we can fix that. Have you talked to Bruce? Talking to him usually leaves you in a better mood.” Maggie gently pries the metal scrub from her hand and dries her older sister’s hands like she would their errant nephews. Mary doesn’t like being treated like a child but having someone take care of her with zero judgement did a whole lot of wonders.

“He is at work, and I don’t want to be the clingy baby mama.” Mary answers.

“Okay have you called Tia Mina?” As much as the medication worked, years of therapy had really been the thing that helped Mary. Lucky for them, their aunt was her therapist on account of it not being safe to talk to anyone else.

“I already did, and there is nothing wrong with me being in a bad mood. You don’t have to keep walking on eggshells around me, Maggie.” She assured her sister who had been treating her like her mental breakdown happened a week ago and not almost two years ago.

“I know, and I am sorry if I do. It’s just I am terrified of it happening again.” Maggie sighed her concern still etched in her face.

Mary does not remember what happened in the two weeks she went missing. Every time she tries to remember what happened between being evicted from her apartment in Kingsville and waking up in a psychiatric hospital in in Austin, she feels like she is throwing herself at a brick wall. She knows the only other person who knows what happened to her is Vandal Savage, but Mary wonders if that was another hallucination.

“It won’t. I am better now and who knows, maybe I will get better like it happened to Aunt Lucia. Stranger things have happened.” Mary gestures at her belly making her sister laugh. “So you never told me about the guy you were seeing, the one who ‘went out to buy superpowers’, what was his name?”

“Hank. He is weirdly obsessed with Batman and I am pretty sure he and his sister, Claire, just went on a bender in South America. He was pretty, but nothing serious.” Maggie answered, already having moved on and pretending him ghosting her didn’t hurt.

* * *

Vandal looked at the footage of his sister, no, granddaughter on the news. They were the same woman and yet two completely different people.

His sister had been given strong abilities, exactly like the ones Maria has, but the meteor had not given her immortality nor had it saved her from the madness nor the backlash of said abilities.

He had taken measures to prevent that with Maria, the reincarnation of his sister as well as his granddaughter, when he had convinced her to leave her mundane little life and take her place as his right hand.

Scandal had already proven a disappointment and his other descendants had better use in his organ banks. He had confidence Maria would be a triumph. A perfect replacement for his errant daughter.

Vandal Savage had been proved wrong and for now he waited to see if the tiny fragment of the meteor had accomplished anything he may have missed in those two weeks.

He wondered if Alexander Luthor or the Court of Owls knew why Savage had left the girl in psychiatric hospital instead of continuing with his original plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, I am sorry this took too long for me to write, but I was struck with three chapters worth of my Iroh II/ OC fic, and two drafts for two fics I am starting. I also get discouraged when I don’t get comments or kudos. I don’t want to pressure the handful of people who read this fic to comment more often but think about it as encouraging your local aroace depressed Mexican fanfic writer. Even if its just to point out a mistake, don’t hesitate to leave a review.  
I have personally met women who's pregnancy made their anxiety become more manageable and in one case go away completely.  
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, in 2009 32% of pregnant woman with anxiety who participated in their survey felt their symptoms lessen, so its not unheard of.
> 
> I headcanon Bruce/Batman to be Jewish as well as atheist. Martha’s family the Kane Family is canonically Jewish, so genetically speaking he would be half-Jewish, and I am pretty sure if your batman believes in God you are writing/reading him wrong.  
He is also Pansexual in my fic.
> 
> If y’all wanna talk about the fic, Batman, current world events or whatever, y’all can find me in Tumblr. My url is julyzaa.
> 
> Happy Election Day to the Americans reading this fic. fingers crossed they don't pull an Al Gore or a Hillary Clinton on us again.


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